Tri-rail's Slipping Away

May 27, 2009|Beth Schulman, Coconut Creek

Why in the world can the Florida Legislature be so shortsighted, opting out on an appropriation to keep our Tri-Rail running?

Here we have a fully running complete entity that has made the improvements necessary for good operation and has had a substantial increase in riders over the last three years. True enough, like most forms of public transit throughout the nation, it needs to be subsidized, but this one is worth the expenditure.

Placing Tri-Rail's funding on a bill that included the proposed multibillion-dollar Orlando transit system doomed any chance of funding for our system. Maybe this is why I get the feeling that, as a state, we are showing signs of slipping by the wayside.